Although PSAPs are not traditional Call Centers, many of their staffing challenges are the same — and appropriate scheduling can literally be a matter of life and death. Limited public budgets often make PSAPS and emergency communication centers even more likely to rely on manual, time-consuming efforts for dispatcher scheduling. The result is often a schedule built on estimates, anecdotal data, and instinct…as opposed to one built on actual workload and call handler skills.
Using proven, industry-leading software applications developed for commercial Call Centers, Sound Communications scopes and implements Public Safety Forecasting and Scheduling solutions that enable your agency to provide superior citizen service while responsibly and economically using public funds.
Forecasting
Accurate forecasting of workload, and building schedules to match, is a daunting task — and it’s probably just one of the many facing the typical PSAP supervisor. The more diverse your service area and your call handlers, the more quickly it becomes clear that manual methods and spreadsheets are simply not enough.
Our Public Safety Forecasting and Scheduling systems pull in historical weeks of call statistics from your phone system that can be alerted and weighted for forecasting future events. You can also select and save sets of contact behavior to accurately model for storms, public gatherings, and other seasonal events that may cause call spikes.
Scheduling
A Public Safety Forecasting and Scheduling system from Sound Communications projects staffing needs for each queue down to the quarter hour level. These schedules balance the forecasted call volume with data you define:
- Shift rules
- Work patterns
- Breaks
- Off-phone times
- Call handler skills, proficiencies and preferences
The end result is a schedule that drives down costs by better aligning staffing levels with workload.
Ongoing Management
The best forecasting and the most accurate scheduling can be rendered nearly useless by day-to-day reality. That’s why our Public Safety Forecasting and Scheduling systems help you quickly identify and respond to everyday challenges with built-in tools like:
- Intraday monitoring which lets you assess forecasts against actual workload and performance, so you can make changes in real time
- Notification when a call handler is supposed to be on the phones, but isn’t
- Comprehensive, out-of-the-box reports on activity, adherence, performance, staffing, time off and more…plus audit trail functionality that lets administrators track any changes made to the Public Safety Forecasting and Scheduling system.
Perhaps the most appealing quality of our Public Safety Forecasting and Scheduling systems is their fast and demonstrable return on the investment of taxpayer dollars. To learn more about the variety of systems available, and discover which one is right for you, please call us at 1-800-556-8556 or click here to schedule a FREE demo.